A New College of Art and Creative Art and Design

Content

Fikra: The creative connections...........................1

Chinese paintings.................................................5

Lest we forget.......................................................8

Emerge II..............................................................11

Innovation in the Works: ISEA2014....................13

Mubadal world teniss...........................................15

Al bidiya mousqe................................................17

London trip cace...................................................18

Art and Design Mat-ters: A New College of Art and Crea-tive Enterprises In Fall 2014 the Zayed University Council approved the found-ing of the first UAE national college that focuses on major programs in the visual arts, design, and new media. The College of Arts and Creative Enterprises (CACE), with cam-puses in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, offers major programs in Animation, Graphic Design,Interior De-sign, and the Visual Arts with course-work in Drawing, Painting, Photog-raphy, Printmaking

and Sculpture. We collaborate in offer-ing a major in Multi-media, and we have recently developed a minor in Curato-rial Studies. Our faculty is globally diverse with practic-ing artists, design-ers, and art histori-ans who represent countries from the Middle East, the near and far East, the Americas, Eu-rope, Russia, and down under. Col-lectively they offer our students a rich world-view of how the creative process can lead to careers in the arts that can make a difference in the world. We are

surrounded by the creative work of people who are educated in art and design. They contribute and directly enrich all aspects of our lives: the built environment, our culture, and our spirit. Our students are encouraged and educated to share and connect their unique artistic vision with diverse audiences. Here is a snapshot of what they are currently doing in our classes. You will see that art and design matters.

FIKRA The creative connections

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Under the umbrella of the CACE pro-gramming, fikra – The Exchange and Sharing for Crea-tion of New Knowl-edge, is a program that helps to pro-mote art and design within an educa-tional platform, and aims to bridge these opportunities with the localcommunity. The college plans to strengthen its role within the circle of academic institu-tions, but looks to build stronger ties with the lo-

cal and interna-tional community, and participating in educating the general public. The fikra program is divided into six sectors: THE LAB Cultivating crea-tivity workshops, ALBARZAH lec-ture series, OUT-BOUND LEARN-ING trips and professional con-ferences, EXHIBI-TIONS locally and abroad, and ARABESQUE doc-umentary, publish-ing and literature projects. THE LAB

Cultivating creativity workshopsThe im-portance of visiting professionals to Za-yed University is as intrinsic as teaching it provides an op-portunity for profes-sionals to familiarize themselves with the institution’s man-date and programs; it provides a more enriched learning environment for students and ulti-mately it is an im-portant element for the growth of the community and a possibility to reach beyond borders.

Several workshops are planned in Spring 2013, spon-sored by the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation (ADMAF) who has been a primary sup-porter for CACE’s activities. Susan Meiselas returns for a second time. This is a follow-up work-shop that will take a comprehensive look at the nearly two year long proc-ess of gathering and researching archival photographs from Emirati family photo albums. A “hands

on” component of the workshop will include a ‘before-after’ photo shoot excursion whereby Meiselas will teach students how to shoot ‘on location’ places shown in the old photographs. Her expertise as one of the world’s foremost photo-journalists will be invaluable to the students. ALBAR-ZAH lecture series The program plans to invite two to three International guests per semester, in addition to local experts, who would spend a short pe-riod of time working with students both individually and in groups providing them with a broader range of experi-ences. Fikra plans to take advantage of local profession-als and those visit-ing the region to deliver a lecture at Zayed University. The most impor-

tant element is that these guests are leaders in their field of specialization. As many projects in Abu Dhabi and Dubai are develop-ing, we have seen a great deal of recog-nized leaders in the fields of visual arts, architecture, inte-rior design, graphic design, music and literature such as. Thus collaborating with other institu-tions is an excellent opportunity to intro-duce our students to a professional’s idea process and their work. OUTBOUND LEARNING trips and professional confer-ences One of the activities that have shown a positive enhancement in a student’s education-al experience has been the opportunity to travel and study abroad. In the past, opportunities have led to international internships, visiting countries and ex-

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ploring Islamic art and architecture, and participating in professional prac-tice. Study abroad trips are directly linked to the cur-riculum of art and design in order to provide a platform to immerse students in the world of practice and broad-ening their portfolio of experiences that will further inform their practice. As each year presents a variety of local, regional and inter-national conferenc-es, we would like to be able to send students to par-

ticipate and network with their peers. In 2013, a group of students from the Abu Dhabi campus had the opportu-nity to visit London for a week with faculty members Marco Sosa and David Howarth. The students partici-pated in a variety of workshops, such as Islamic patternmak-ing at the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts, visited a group of design firms for training sessions and working on company projects, and experi-enced other activities that make up Lon-

don’s cultural fab-ric. EXHIBITIONS – locally and abroad The practice of exhibiting students’ artwork in a public space is both im-perative to their professional ex-perience but also helps to cultivate an appreciative audi-ence both locally-and abroad. As the Emirati art and design community is quite young, it is essential toestablish opportunities with the world. ARA-BESQUE documen-tary, publishing and literature projects The prospect of

publishing works of art, literature and research is an ex-citing outcome for students. It gives students an outlet to share with the com-munity, which alsodocuments the suc-cesses of students’ achievements. This year the college will bepublishing two important books, both sponsored by ADMAF: EMERGE II: Radiating Ports a

highlight of student art and design work of the past few years, and Lest WeForget a book of Emirati family photo-graphs.

Karen OremusAssistant Dean, As-sociate Professor, Visual Art

Chinese Painting Exhibition

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Event Title: Chinese Paint-ing Exhibition by Students of Zayed University at Du-bai Campus Event Duration: 7 – 20 Jan 2013 Event Organizer and Exhibition Cu-rator: Dr. Leon K. L. Chew (Having worked with a wide spectrum of tertiary students in Singa-pore, China, and the United Kingdom for more than three decades, Dr. Leon K. L. Chew has taken up the chal-lenge of teaching and doing research in the United Arab Emirates, at Zayed University. A schol-ar with interdisci-plinary intellectual interests, a prac-ticing artist, and a judge in numerous internation-

al art and design com-petitions, Dr. Chew firsttaught in Abu Dh-abi for a year, and has subsequently been teaching Chi-nese Painting and Art History in Du-bai for more than three years.) Event Participants: Art 397S-501 Fall 2012 students Event Location: ZU Du-bai Campus Atrium Highlights: The exhibition was visited by many dignitaries, includ-ing Stephen Taran-tal (Founding Dean of CACE), his wife, and Assistant Dean Janet Bellotto, on 9 January 2013. They talked to and congratulated each of the stu-dents during the visit. It also re-

ceived many good comments from faculty, staff, and stu-dents of ZU. Event Summary: This is an exhibition of Chines painting original artworks by students of the Zayed University at Dubai Campus. The students are from class ART397S Art and Design Spe-cial Topics: Chinese painting, taught by Dr. Leon K. L. Chew. Almost

all of the

artworks on display

were done within ten

weeks since the beginning of

the course in Fall 2012 Semester. Chinese Painting is a new course introduced into the curriculum, to pro-vide the students a basic knowl-edge of traditional Chinese brush painting, and a brief exploration of contemporary Chinese painting. Students

go through a new process of tech-niques, method, and Chinese perspec-tive of composition, layout, inking and

coloring. With these, they are taught to paint a range of subjects adapted for their suitability here. The course stirred up tremendous interest and has ince been over subscribed every time when it is offered. The main motivation for the students has been their excitement at the opportunity to explore new artistic territory, as well as to investigate new esthetic theory of Chinese philosophy and culture in gen-eral that come along with this studio course, and to learn all these directly from someone com-ing from the East. For each cohort of students, an exhi-

bition of their art-works is organized and professional curated. This Fall 2012 exhibition showcased the art-works by the fourth cohort of Chinese painting students at Dubai Campus. The students have learned the new techniques, under-stood all the prin-ciples of Chinese painting, and have successfully mani-fested them to the fullest in all the art-works on show. The artworks are astonishing! Community: As in the past, the event created a community-wide awareness of Chi-nese painting and the existence of Chinese painting in ZU. Such Chinese painting exhibitions have become popu-lar, especially after the last visit by H.E. Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahay-an (Minister of High-er Education and

LestForgetWe

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Scientific Research) and other dignitar-ies to the exhibition by the Spring 2011 cohort on 16 May 2011. The exhibitions provide evidence of the great crea-tive potential of ZU students in taking up a new exploration in art making foreign to their culture. The benefit/reward for the University, its

students, and the community in Dubai at large is tremendous.

The ‘Lest We For-get’ project offers a groundbreaking look at snapshots and portraitsproduced by Emirati people. Most photographs of Nationals that are featured in publi-cations or stored in archives were not taken for or by themselves. They are official photos; taken by the me-dia, governmental entities, or pho-tographers largely fromabroad. The photographs in Lest We Forget are dif-ferent. These are

casual photostaken by family mem-bers of each other. Candid and au-thentic, some were taken for thesimple pleasure of viewing them im-mediately among relatives and close friends. Otherswere made with the express intention of passing them down to future genera-tions.Students of three consecutive classes of Curato-rial Practices have

workedcollabora-tively with the aim of creating an artist book and exhibi-tion based on theirstudy of photographs that they have gathered from

tothe photographs that were taken by their forbearers. These photographs, videoinstallations, artist books, sculptures, and paintings provide an insightful examination ofpervasive and significant issues of iden- tity, place and time as experience in the con-textof Emirati family life.The book release and exhibition openi-ng are planned to take place at the CACE Art Gallery on the Abu Dhabicam- pus in spring 2013.

Michele Ba-

fessor, Interior Design

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family albums. What

began two years ago as a modest examination of the vernacular -- ama-teur photography taken byEmirati people for the fun of making pictures or to capture their own experiences has evolved into a significant inter-generational artistic exploration.In January 2012, Susan Meisalas, a Magnum photog-rapher MacArthur Fellow,traveled to Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, to give a week-long work-shop for the stu-

dentsparticipating in the Lest We Forget

Project in the Col-lege of Arts and Creative Enterpris-es. Susan will be re-turn-

ing to

CACE this com-ing Janu-ary 2013 to give a second work-shop critiquing the book and exhibi-tion works. These cutting edge work-shops weremade possible thanks to the gen-erous funding pro-vided by Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation ADMAF. The book, Lest We Forget, builds a collective narra-tive with nearly two hundredphotographs. These were contributed by as many as thirty

students and their families,

careful-ly selected and

considered over the

course of two years. The book provides aframework for a coherent tale of the lives of Emirati peo-ple, from members of the royalfamily, to the Bedouin communi-ties. The exhibition comprises a body of work that the students have

cre-ated in

response tothe photographs

that were taken by

their forbear-ers. These photo-graphs, videoinstallations, artist books, sculptures, and paintings pro-vide an insightful examination of

per-vasive

and significant issues of identity,

place and time as experience in the contextof Emirati

fam-

ily life.

The book

release and exhibition open-ing are planned to

take place at the CACE Art Gallery on the Abu Dhabi campus in spring 2013.Michele Bam-bling, Assistant Professor, Art HistoryMarco Sosa,

Assistant Profes-sor, Interior Design

tothe photographs that were taken by their forbearers. These photographs, videoinstallations, artist books, sculptures, and paintings provide an insightful examination ofpervasive and significant issues of identity, place and time as experience in the con-textof Emirati family life.The book release and exhibition openi-ng are planned to take place at the CACE Art Gallery on the Abu Dhabicampus in spring 2013.Michele Ba-mbling, Assistant Professor, Art History Marco Sosa,

Emerge II

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“Venice is a city that I see as a young lady … Dubai is an inspiration for every-thing. Dubaiis an old man, who lives a long life to build itself by hand...” This is how Sara Almuhairibegins to describe her collaborative project “The Crystal Hair” for EMERGE II: Radiating Ports presented in Ven-ice, Italy, coinciding with the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011.Emerge II was the second exhibition in Venice. As the UAE pavilion presented its exhibition Second

Time Around, it was also a proud mo-ment as our alumna, Sheikha Lateefa bint Maktoum AlMak-toum, was one of the UAE represent-atives.The concept for Emerge II devel-oped from a lecture by internationally acclaimed artistFab-rizio Plessi “Art and Technology.” Stu-dents were thrilled to work with Plessi, whichwas made possible through support by the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority and LouisVuitton. Plessi was exhibiting his work “MARIVERTI-

CALI,” in conjunction with the LouisVuitton Trophy in Dubai. He enjoyed his time with the students so much that he later re-turned to conduct a workshop to discuss not only the

development of his own work,but to exchange ideas with students and how they might approach their ideas using hisown concepts as a spring board.Yvonne Lammerich, a Visiting Profes-sor at ZU, helped to develop the theme

in responseto Plessi’s work-shop that refers to a metaphor reso-nating with “the fluidity inside of us”,the fluidity that makes it pos-sible for ident-ities to be form-ed and held to-gether. Students and alumnae, from both Dubai and Abu Dhabi, supervised by faculty,developed their projects for months leading up to Venice in June 2011. Sara Sist, thedirector of SPS Consulting, was thrilled to work with ZU students again, and helped tofind a perfect space for the exhibition.The 63 stu-dents and alumnae and 8 faculty members worked together in a variety ofcollaborations. The result was 17 art-

works and instal-lations that explore thresholds dictated by urban cultural activity and the fluidity that exists in their own environ-ment from the ships of the desert, the sea, and movements of sound through the UAE landscape. A majority of the works presented are video and sound installations, andothers included artworks of pho-tography and mixed media, and will be exhibited at theCACE Art Gallery in Abu Dhabi in

2013, and an ac-companying book of the same title willbe launched.

Janet Bellotto As-sistant Dean, As-sociate Professor, Visual Art

Innovation in the Works: ISEA 2014

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Zayed University’s College of Arts and Creative Enterprises has been chosen to host the 20th Inter-national Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA) in the fall of 2014. “A strong aspect of the bid was the focus on women’s education in the UAE andensuring that young women have the potential to influence the future of the region anddevelop interna-tional contacts. Zayed University is committed to ensur-ing that young Arab generations have a presence and voice on the global stage,” Sue Gollifer, ISEABoard Director.ISEA is the world’s most important new media arts event for the interdisci-

plinary discussion and showcase of creative productions applying new tech-nologies ininteractive and digital media. It’s an event that annu-ally brings together artists, academics, scientists, and new media practitioners in cities from around the world.The overarch-ing theme of ISEA2014—Loca-tion—will explore several strands:TECHNOLOGY, SCIENCE, AND ART: EAST MEETS WEST, NOMADIC SHIFTS, CON-NECTING WORLDS / LINKING IDEAS, DIGITAL ARCHAE-OLOGY & COLLAB-ORATIVE SPACES, ANDINTERLACING WORLDS—FIBRES

& SENSORY MEDI-ATION. During the month of November 2014 all of Dubai can look forward to exhibitions,lectures, panel disc-ussions, and more with the most inn-ovative and experimental artists,scientists, and thinkers from around the world! The academic conference will take place on the Zayed Uni-versity’s Dubai campus, with free exhibi-tions, video screenings, and more, around the city at ven-ues from galleries to malls.Al-though the develop-

ment of art and technology with local Emirati art practices is stillvery new, there are a few artists that are engaged in with various technologies and are interested in interdisciplinary practice. Janet Bellotto, Assist-ant Dean, CACE, is the ISEA2014 Artistic Director and Conference Chair, leading this college ini-tiative, whichincludes other CACE faculty. ISEA2014 Dubai would be the first symposium held in the Mid-dle East, where it strongly aims to support ex-change and pro-mote academicdiscourse be-tween a cultur-ally diverse audi-ence. For Zayed University, who prepares itsstudents to be

leaders, this sym-posium not only aims to foster the growth between the areas of art, sci-ence and technol-ogy, but it supports to challenge and explore new ideas. ISEA2014 Dubai will target a young generation of art-ists, while educat-ing a community who may not have encountered these platforms, and it will provide tools that can be used for growth and change. Beginning in 2013 there will be an ongoing program of events throughout the UAE that will lead up to ISEA2014. CACE will host a series of work-shops, both in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, that introduce the ZU community and the broader UAE community to thebreadth of electronic media artworks (cutting edge and innovative technolo-

gies in the context of art making), sponsored by the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Founda-tion. It will present EMERGE II: Ra-diating Ports, an exhibition of fac-ulty and student collaborativework developed from a workshop given by Italian video artist Fabrizio Plessi. Art-ist Juliana Espana Keller will be work-ing with students on a digital video project, and will also be establish WWKA Dubai (Women With Kitchen Appliances) – a group of women will develop a sound symphony using donated kitchen appliances, and a performance is ex-pected at thejamjar Dubai.Janet BellottoAssistant Dean, Associate Professor, Visual Art

Mubadala World Tennis

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Novak Djokovic win-ner of this year’s Mubadala World Tennis Champion-ship 2012, success-fully defended the title and was award-ed with a brand new trophy inspired and designed by a CACE student from Zayed University. The unique prize was the result of a trophy design com-petition launched by glass manufacturers Lasvit.For the sec-ond year running in the event’s history, Emirati students enrolled at the Col-lege of Arts and Creative Enterprises

at Zayed Univer-sity, responded to a design challenge set by globally re-nowned glass art installations design-ers, Lasvit, as part of a creative com-petition to produce a trophy that truly reflects the unique culture of the United Arab Emirates. Fol-lowing a torturous period in trying to decide the winner form the high quality entries, the judges decided on the win-ning design and second and third place. To help them decide, Lasvit, man-ufactured 1:1 proto-types of the three top entries. The first prize went to Inte-rior Design senior student, Fayza Al Mashjari. The judg-es were impressed by Fayza’s amber creation, inspired by the energy and movement of Abu Dhabi›s streets. «We always seek to support creative talent and Fayza›s

design was one of the best entries we have seen over the past two years,» said the company›s area manager, Filip Simek. «The fine blend of art, sport and Emi-rati culture makes this collabora-tion an especially mean-ingful and memo-rable project for all

involved.»Stephen Tarantal, Dean of the College of Arts and Creative Enterprises, said the assignment gave students «an important insight into

the creative process of producing a com-missioned work of art from the project brief».The trophy was presented to this year’s winner and world tennis No. 1, Novac Djokovic, in front of a capacity crowd at Zayed Sport City, Abu Dhabi,

following the final on 29th of Decem-ber 2012. The event was attended and trophies presented by Sheikh Nahyan Bin Zayed Al Nahy-an, Chairman of

Abu Dhabi Sports Council (ADSC), Sheikh Diab Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Director of the Presidential Court, Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, CEO and Managing Di-rector of Mubadala and Mohammad Al Mahmoud, General Secretary of ADSC.The predicted global television audience for the event was to be over 120 million households.

London Trip CACE

Al bidiya Mosque

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14 students from CACE, Abu Dhabi campus travelled on a educational tripto London between 11th and 20th of January 2013. The students were allsenior students majoring in Graphic design or Interior Design. CACE Sen-

iorAcademic Admin-istrator Officer, Lateefa Almansoori andCACE Assistant Professors, David Howarth and Marco Sosa organized and accompanied thes-tudents on the trip.Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation

(ADMAF) and Na-tional DrillingCom-pany (NDC) gen-erously financially supported the trip.The trip was further facilitated by a sub-stantial discount on the airfares gener-ously provided by Virgin Atlantic air-ways.

The trip consisted on visits to mu-seums, galleries, design practices anduniversities. The experience was fur-ther enhanced, by immersingthemselves in the London lifestyle like going to shows and commuting using

London Transport. The trip included a visit to the UAE embassy in Londonwhere students met the UAE Ambassador, His Excellency, Abdulrahman Ghanem Almutaiwee.

The students were welcomed by leading De-sign Agencies and Practices such asPentagram,GLUEISOBAR,McCann›s, Virgin Atlantic, MJP Architects, the Architectural association (AA) and the London

MetropolitanUniversity, Sir John Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture & Design. Of the trip, Stephen Taran-tal, Dean of CACE expressed the fol-lowing: «Most of us who have been fortu- nate

enough to either study or live in a different culture other than our home country know what a broadening educational experience it is. We quickly integrate the diversity that is part of the broader world.

On Sunday 3rd of February CACE Assistant profes-sor Marco Sosa had a book launch and signing at the Art Hub Abu Dhabi. The book entitled Al Bidiya Mosque, a visual essay is the first publication under ZU Books (Zayed University Books). The book provides a picto-rial insight into the Al Bidiya Mosque in the Emirate of Al Fujairah, United

Arab Emirates.The book uses black and white photographytoexplore the build-ing’s presence as a place of worship, as a livingworking “vessel” of historical, cultural, and religious impor-tance in the UAE.The publication provides a personal view of the mosque to the public,nationallyand in-ternationally.The book also con-tains an essay byDr. RonaldHawker pro-viding his-torical con-text and a conver-

sation between the author andthe artist Udo Rut-schmann.The event was or-ganized by Art Hub as part of the British Art Month and waspresented by CACE Visual Arts Major, Anood Abdul Malek Abdul KharemAbdulrahman.

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We understand ourselves more clearly by comparison, and appreciate the richness of humanity›s cultures and customs. Global awareness is a critical component of our students› education and travel/study is an excellent hands-on way to experience another country»The students were also involved onan ADMAF sponsored workshop in Arabic patterns with The Prince’s College of traditional arts in London.The group visited the Victoria and Albert Museum, the design Museum, Christie’s auction house, The Royal academy, The British Museum and The CACE London Creative Strategies 2013 Royal Institute of British Architects. All these visits and experiences will prove relevant as

Abu Dhabi prepares for the construction of major muse-um projects at Saadiy-at Island includingthe pro-posed Za-yed Nation-al Museum. In addition, the trip was programmed as a working trip and students were set a series of projects to work and complete during their time in London. The follow-ing are some of the comments expressed by the students; Shaed Yaslem (Inte-rior Design) said: “The trip was chal-lenging in many ways. But it was re-warding as I gained

so many experienc-es. On a personal

level, I got to know all my

colleagues re-ally well.” Ayesha Bamaj-

boor (Inte-rior Design)

said: “After the trip, I have become more confident. I learned to com-

municate with people bet-ter. It was the best experi-ence I

had. I will never for-

get it!” Thikra Alsawaidi (Graphic design) said: “The London Trip

was one of the loveli-

est trips I have even gone. I really enjoyed

my experi-ence. I learned

a lot from each agency I went

to. It was really challenging but useful at the same time. The teachers were kind and helpful. I became more independent and more self-responsible. Finally I encourage all CACE students to embrace similar opportunities and live the experiences” Safiya Al Maskari (Interior Design) said: “By travelling on this trip, I learned more about my own major and had the opportunity to see other design student’s work. This made me more determine to investigate new methods in producing work” David Howarth, CACE, assistant professor, graphic design, “Student have come away from this trip with both; a greater ap--preciation of

working in leading design environments and a better under-standing of working practices and design institu-tions outside of the UAE”Pentagram,GLUEISOBAR,McCann›s, Virgin Atlantic, MJP Architects, the Architectural asso-ciation (AA) and the London Metropoli-tan University, Sir John Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture & Design. Of the trip, Stephen Taran-tal, Dean of CACE expressed the fol-

lowing: «Most of us who have been fortunate enough to either study or live in a different culture other than our home country know what a broadening educational ex-perience it is. We quickly integrate the diversity that is part of the broader world. We under-stand ourselves more clearly by comparison, and appreciate the richness of humanity›s cultures and customs. Global

awareness is a critical component of our students› edu-cation and travel/study is an excellent hands-on way to experience another country»The students were also involved onan ADMAF